Blackstone Earnings: Weaker Results in the Face of Continued Equity and Credit Market Headwinds

There was little in narrow-moat-rated Blackstone's third-quarter results that would alter our long-term view of the firm. We are leaving our $110 per share fair value estimate in place and view the shares as being slightly undervalued right now. Blackstone closed out the third quarter with $734.5 billion in fee-earning assets under management, or AUM, up 0.5% sequentially and 4.1% year over year. Total AUM was $1.007 trillion, up 0.6% sequentially and 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Adjusted net inflows of $2.4 billion during the third quarter were well off the positive $26.8 billion quarterly run rate we've seen for flows the past two years.